Saturday, August 18, 2007

General update

I finished the Ara-C this afternoon and will finish the clofarabine in the morning. So far side effects have been mild, for which I am thankful. The headaches have also let up, so Monday's spinal tap has been put on hold for now. The only test on the horizon at the moment is the 14 day biopsy, which I'm expecting a week from Monday. My biggest complaint has been a sore back. I think it is just a process of adjusting from my firm mattress at home to the foam ones here at the hospital.

Amy,I am so glad to hear the side effects ahve been minimal. That is how I have been praying! I will continue to pray that your biopsy will be relatively easy and that the results will be good!Love,Gina

I have been reading your blog for awhile now. I don't remember how I stumbled on it but I am glad I did. I have never experienced the seriousness of a condition such as yours but I, too have had many health problems--that have ended me in the hospital--when I wanted to be at home, taking care of my boys and my husband, doing laundry, cleaning the bathroom...anything... just the NORMAL! I am comforted that even as God saw Haggar--even Haggar--in the desert of her life, God sees you in this circumstance-- thirsting for a "drink." Genesis 21:19 says, "then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water." God met Hagar’s need.

I love this poem that Sheila Walsh includes in All That Really Matters:

Think not thou canst sigh a sigh, And thy Maker is not by: Think not thou canst weep a tear, And thy Maker is not near. Oh He gives to us His joy, That our grief He may destroy: Till our grief is fled and gone He doth sit beside and moan. --William Blake

Timeline

August 2007 - Clofarabine & Cytarabine with possible second transplant

August 2007 - Intrathecal Methotrexate

June - July 2007 - FLAG w/ mylotarg

April 2007 - AML M4 MLL-ELL Diagnosis

March - June 2007: Experimental DLIs

March - June 2007: Decitabine 5/28

November 2006 - Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplant (brother)

September 2006 - Salvage Regimen - MEC

July 2006 - Reinduction - Cytarabine & Daunarubicin 5/2

July 2006 - Induction - Cytarabine & Daunarubicin 7/3

July 2, 2006 - AML M4 Diagnosis

But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you. Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, 'I believed, and so I spoke,' we also believe, and so we also speak, knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence. For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God. So we do not lose heart. Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. - 2 Corinthians 4:5-18